Sacha Guitry

A documentary view of the galas of Paris’s Palais Garnier in the 1950s and ’60s.

Open details →

Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.

Open details →

Historical film directed and written by Sacha Guitry follows the the history of Paris from its founding through the significant events in the city's history.

Open details →

The film follows the life of Napoleon from his early life in Corsica to his death at Saint Helena. The film is notable for its use of location shooting for numerous scenes, especially at the French estates of Malmaison and Fontainebleau, the Palace of Versailles, and sites of Napoleonic battles including Austerlitz and Waterloo.

Open details →

Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are pursued in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date.

Open details →

La Vie d'un honnête homme English: The Virtuous Scoundrel, is a French comedy drama film from 1953, directed by Sacha Guitry, written by Sacha Guitry, starring Michel Simon and Louis de Funès.

Open details →

A husband who had divorced twice because he had been betrayed by his former wives, takes his precautions to prevent the deed from happening a third time. And yet it does.

Open details →

Jean-Gaspard Deburau is a very successful mime, the most famous in his category. One day, he falls head over heels in love with Marie Duplessis, a courtesan better known as "La Dame aux Camélias". But he soon realizes that he is but a number in her long list of lovers. He will find comfort in devoting his time teaching his art to his son Charles.

Open details →

A wealthy baron, without offspring, who knows death is approaching, wants to adopt a man who kept him alive a bit longer, when he was almost run over by a horse drawn cart.

Open details →

While he was about to end his life, Baron de Cantenac wanted to return one last time to the land of his ancestors. He then discovers a treasure that he will strive to use to revive his village.

Open details →

Michel Desnoyer has turned his private life into a comic stage play. But the volcanic Ecaterina is not at all pleased to find out that Michel's sister is the mistress of the man she loves.

Open details →

A man remarried his wife's sister whom he believes died in a fire. The alleged deceased reappears and sows trouble and discord in the new household.

Open details →

The film is a 125-minute, black-and-white biography of French priest and diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), who served for 50 years under five different French regimes: the Absolute Monarchy, the Revolution, the Consulate, the Empire, and the Constitutional Monarchy. Its title comes from one of the main historical nicknames for Talleyrand, that he shares with demon king Asmodeus and English poet Lord Byron.

Open details →

Biography of Lucien Guitry, stage comedian, by his son, movie director, and a poetic reflection on the passionate love of both men for their chosen art forms.

Open details →

Sitting at his desk, Guitry gives us a lecture on French history from Joan of Arc to the Occupation, with some focus on a number of its great writers and musicians.

Open details →

On the death of the famous singer Maria Malibran, Countess Merlin retraces the main lines of the unusual destiny of this young woman entirely devoted to her art.

Open details →

A renowned sculptor aged about fifty years, François Bressolles falls for the young Catherine Collet whom he convinces without difficulty to pose for him. Complications ensue when he starts to go blind.

Open details →

Julie and Désirée Clary are courted by the brothers Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte. Joseph marries Julie and Napoleon is affianced to Désirée. When Napoleon breaks the engagement and marries Joséphine de Beauharnais, Désirée becomes involved with General Bernadotte.

Open details →

Nine Bachelors is a 1939 French comedy film directed by Sacha Guitry and starring Guitry, Max Dearly and Elvire Popesco.[1] An opportunist dreams up a new scheme to make money when the French government passes a law forbidding foreigners from living in France. It's French title is Ils étaient neuf célibataires.

Open details →

The history of one of France's most famous streets is retold, featuring multiple performances from Guitry himself.

Open details →

American multi-millionaire Michael Brandon marries his eighth wife, Nicole, the daughter of a broke French Marquis. But she doesn't want to be only a number in the line of his ex-wives and undertakes her own strategy to tame him.

Open details →

The young American actor Carl Erikson is the darling of the moment. Whilst in Paris on business, he is signing autographs, including one for Paulette Nanteuil, the actress all the rage in France but a complete stranger to Carl. Charmed by the young woman, he hopes to see her again, but she had given him a false name – that of her friend, Claudine André, a journalist. Meanwhile, Carl Erikson has an interview scheduled with Philippe de Morannes, editor-in-chief of ‘Paris-Soir’ and Paulette’s lover. To thank him for granting him the interview, Philippe unwittingly becomes an accomplice of fate by offering him a ticket to Paulette’s show. Carl sneaks into her dressing room, and Paulette, swept away, gives herself to him for a night of passion. Should she leave Philippe or break up with Carl? Will Philippe succumb to Claudine’s charms, even though she herself is not taken with Carl?

Open details →

Désiré is hired by Odette Cléry as a valet. She is the mistress of Félix Montignac, Minister of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones. Désiré is assisted by Adèle, the cook, and Madeleine, ‘Madame’s’ maid. The summer holidays take this little group to Deauville, to a holiday villa. But here’s the thing, Désiré is a man whose appearance, self-assurance and profession—which is, in fact, hereditary—are not entirely in keeping with his tastes and mindset. As the son, grandson and great-grandson of a servant, he derives genuine pleasure from obeying—and indeed, Désiré says so himself: ‘Serving is a marvellous thing. It means having the right to be without a will...’ But, alas! Every coin has two sides, and his only real taste lies in his mistresses. Adapted from the play of the same name by Sacha Guitry, premiered at the Théâtre Édouard VII (Théâtre de Sacha Guitry) in Paris’s 9th arrondissement on 27 April 1927.

Open details →

The story of the seven pearls of the English Crown, from Henry VIII to 1937 – three of them missing.

Open details →

Mrs Cambronne, of British origin, to whom the famous ‘remark’ made by her husband, General Pierre Cambronne, has been much recounted, presses her husband with questions in an attempt to discover its meaning. But the general refuses to offer any explanation and remains silent. An adaptation of Sacha Guitry’s play of the same name, also written in 1936. Released in cinemas on 26 March 1937 at the Cinéma Normandie in Paris’s 8th arrondissement. The film was shot in a single afternoon on November 19, 1936, featuring the four actors who had originally performed the play on stage. The props came from the theater and were returned there that same evening. As Guitry explains at the beginning of his film, this production is dedicated to the memory of Edmond Rostand, who suggested the subject of the play—on which the film is based—to the author of “Mot de Cambronne.”

Open details →

A husband who has just cheated on his wife returns home in the early morning, puzzled. He finds there, without knowing it, the lover of his wife, to whom he confesses his infidelity.

Open details →

After being left for another man by his wife, Charles Bellanger raises his only son to fear and suspect women. Years later, such an education is bearing fruit.

Open details →

Life story of a charming scoundrel, with little dialogue other than the star/director's witty narration. As a boy, only he survives a family tragedy when he's deprived of supper (poisonous mushrooms!) for stealing...concluding that dishonesty pays. Through years of dabbling in crime and amusing adventures, two women appear and reappear in his life, a dazzling blonde jewel thief and a stunning brunette gambler. Finally, he meets the mysterious Charbonnier who had saved his life in World War I, leading to the surprising next phase in his career...

Open details →

Husbands and wives, lovers and gigolos, all break a sweat when Dr. Marcelin’s newly-revised last will and testament is prematurely exposed.

Open details →

A girl, Marie, who got engaged to a boy who is leaving for military training (thirteen days) wins two million on the raffle, thanks to an older man, Claude, whom she calls her good luck …

Open details →

Guitry reprises his role as Pasteur which he played successfully at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1919.

Open details →

Three successive sketches: Sacha Guitry successively calls Pauline Carton, Gaston Severin and Paul Pauley by telephone, to invite them to the Ambassadors gala dinner.

Open details →

A home movie version of the Dumas play. A young woman becomes a courtesan and tragedy befalls her. Appearances are made by many socialites of 1920s Paris and New York.

Open details →

Open details →

Open details →

Open details →

Open details →

In the 1980 French countryside, farmer Jojo and his ill-tempered wife Lulu hate each other, though their respective interests speak against divorce. The only thing that keeps the oppressed Jojo from murder is the threat of the guillotine...

Open details →

Carl Herickson, a big American film star, unwillingly upsets a Parisian trio: a newspaper editor, his theater actress wife, and their fiery journalist best friend.

Open details →

After being abandoned by his wife, a man raises his son alone for twenty years.

Open details →

Open details →

Returning late from a romantic date, a man searches for every possible and unimaginable excuse to explain his lateness to his wife. His guilt turns on him when he finds out she's not home. The character created by Sasha Guitry in 1915, eaten away by jealousy, then imagines all her adventures.

Open details →

Serge, alias Count Fornari, is hired by a mysterious employer to try to steal the Nabob, an exceptionally valuable diamond that Jeannette, alias Aménita (Perrette Pradier), the companion of a billionaire, wears as a locket. She covets the diamond and steals it from the safe. About to be caught in the act, she keeps it hidden in a handkerchief in her hand and manages to conceal it in Serge's pocket during the hotel ball. When she rejoins the billionaire, he asks her to open her hand, but the diamond is gone. The result is a chase full of misunderstandings and twists and turns between the three protagonists.

Open details →

The writer Pierre Carot became rich and famous with his book "Life as a Couple", which was based on the loving relationships of four couples. Now he's setting up his will and wants to leave his wealth to the couples among the four, which are still as deeply in love - if any: else, his companions get the money. He sends them out to visit the couples and test their love.

Open details →

Jojo’s ambition is to become a gangster, but to be admitted into a gang he has to prove himself by committing a daring act. To that end, he kills someone in broad daylight, not knowing that his victim is an actor who is playing a scene in a film directed by a cranky film-maker (Darry Cowl). The murder is caught on film, leading Commissaire Bernard (Michel Simon) to think that the killer will be easy to find. Sure enough, Bernard soon makes his arrest, a clown from a circus, but then he faces an almost insurmountable problem. The clown has an identical twin, who is also a clown with the same circus. Both men claim to be innocent…

Open details →

A man becomes the lover of his former persecutor's wife.

Open details →

Historical film directed and written by Sacha Guitry follows the the history of Paris from its founding through the significant events in the city's history.

Open details →

The film follows the life of Napoleon from his early life in Corsica to his death at Saint Helena. The film is notable for its use of location shooting for numerous scenes, especially at the French estates of Malmaison and Fontainebleau, the Palace of Versailles, and sites of Napoleonic battles including Austerlitz and Waterloo.

Open details →

Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are pursued in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date.

Open details →

La Vie d'un honnête homme English: The Virtuous Scoundrel, is a French comedy drama film from 1953, directed by Sacha Guitry, written by Sacha Guitry, starring Michel Simon and Louis de Funès.

Open details →

A husband who had divorced twice because he had been betrayed by his former wives, takes his precautions to prevent the deed from happening a third time. And yet it does.

Open details →

Paul Braconnier and his wife Blandine only have one thing in mind: to find a way to kill each other without risk. After listening to a radio show, Paul decides to go to Paris to meet a famous lawyer in the acquittal of the murderers. He tells the lawyer that he killed his wife. The lawyer asks Paul to reconstruct the circumstances of the drama. Without knowing it, he explains, in spite of himself, the way for Paul to murder his wife by putting the odds on his side to avoid death penalty or even be released...

Open details →

Is it because his father was a groom that Adhémar Pomme has a long horse head and a horse- toothed smile? Maybe but the fact is that his head has invariably caused laughter whatever the circumstances, which is the tragedy of his life. After having worked as an undertaker, a theater prompter, a casino bouncer, and so on, and failing at each job, he applies out of desperation to an institution where those rejected for physical reasons can hide and live together. But Adhémar immediately starts... laughing at them and gets kicked out as a result! In the end though, he finds his way as a circus artist.

Open details →

Jean-Gaspard Deburau is a very successful mime, the most famous in his category. One day, he falls head over heels in love with Marie Duplessis, a courtesan better known as "La Dame aux Camélias". But he soon realizes that he is but a number in her long list of lovers. He will find comfort in devoting his time teaching his art to his son Charles.

Open details →

Hopes and love and ambitions and friendship in a group of young jazz-loving Parisians.

Open details →

Michel Desnoyer has turned his private life into a comic stage play. But the volcanic Ecaterina is not at all pleased to find out that Michel's sister is the mistress of the man she loves.

Open details →

A man remarried his wife's sister whom he believes died in a fire. The alleged deceased reappears and sows trouble and discord in the new household.

Open details →

The film is a 125-minute, black-and-white biography of French priest and diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), who served for 50 years under five different French regimes: the Absolute Monarchy, the Revolution, the Consulate, the Empire, and the Constitutional Monarchy. Its title comes from one of the main historical nicknames for Talleyrand, that he shares with demon king Asmodeus and English poet Lord Byron.

Open details →

On the death of the famous singer Maria Malibran, Countess Merlin retraces the main lines of the unusual destiny of this young woman entirely devoted to her art.

Open details →

A renowned sculptor aged about fifty years, François Bressolles falls for the young Catherine Collet whom he convinces without difficulty to pose for him. Complications ensue when he starts to go blind.

Open details →

Two strangers split a sweepstake prize to go on a fake honeymoon with predictable results.

Open details →

Nine Bachelors is a 1939 French comedy film directed by Sacha Guitry and starring Guitry, Max Dearly and Elvire Popesco.[1] An opportunist dreams up a new scheme to make money when the French government passes a law forbidding foreigners from living in France. It's French title is Ils étaient neuf célibataires.

Open details →

The history of one of France's most famous streets is retold, featuring multiple performances from Guitry himself.

Open details →

A seasoned con-man devises an elaborate plan to relieve a rich socialite of a hefty chunk of her fortune but her falling in love with him complicates matters.

Open details →

The young American actor Carl Erikson is the darling of the moment. Whilst in Paris on business, he is signing autographs, including one for Paulette Nanteuil, the actress all the rage in France but a complete stranger to Carl. Charmed by the young woman, he hopes to see her again, but she had given him a false name – that of her friend, Claudine André, a journalist. Meanwhile, Carl Erikson has an interview scheduled with Philippe de Morannes, editor-in-chief of ‘Paris-Soir’ and Paulette’s lover. To thank him for granting him the interview, Philippe unwittingly becomes an accomplice of fate by offering him a ticket to Paulette’s show. Carl sneaks into her dressing room, and Paulette, swept away, gives herself to him for a night of passion. Should she leave Philippe or break up with Carl? Will Philippe succumb to Claudine’s charms, even though she herself is not taken with Carl?

Open details →

Désiré is hired by Odette Cléry as a valet. She is the mistress of Félix Montignac, Minister of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones. Désiré is assisted by Adèle, the cook, and Madeleine, ‘Madame’s’ maid. The summer holidays take this little group to Deauville, to a holiday villa. But here’s the thing, Désiré is a man whose appearance, self-assurance and profession—which is, in fact, hereditary—are not entirely in keeping with his tastes and mindset. As the son, grandson and great-grandson of a servant, he derives genuine pleasure from obeying—and indeed, Désiré says so himself: ‘Serving is a marvellous thing. It means having the right to be without a will...’ But, alas! Every coin has two sides, and his only real taste lies in his mistresses. Adapted from the play of the same name by Sacha Guitry, premiered at the Théâtre Édouard VII (Théâtre de Sacha Guitry) in Paris’s 9th arrondissement on 27 April 1927.

Open details →

The story of the seven pearls of the English Crown, from Henry VIII to 1937 – three of them missing.

Open details →

Mrs Cambronne, of British origin, to whom the famous ‘remark’ made by her husband, General Pierre Cambronne, has been much recounted, presses her husband with questions in an attempt to discover its meaning. But the general refuses to offer any explanation and remains silent. An adaptation of Sacha Guitry’s play of the same name, also written in 1936. Released in cinemas on 26 March 1937 at the Cinéma Normandie in Paris’s 8th arrondissement. The film was shot in a single afternoon on November 19, 1936, featuring the four actors who had originally performed the play on stage. The props came from the theater and were returned there that same evening. As Guitry explains at the beginning of his film, this production is dedicated to the memory of Edmond Rostand, who suggested the subject of the play—on which the film is based—to the author of “Mot de Cambronne.”

Open details →

A husband who has just cheated on his wife returns home in the early morning, puzzled. He finds there, without knowing it, the lover of his wife, to whom he confesses his infidelity.

Open details →

After being left for another man by his wife, Charles Bellanger raises his only son to fear and suspect women. Years later, such an education is bearing fruit.

Open details →